A History of Poetry in Italy

Guyda Armstrong is Professor of Italian and Director of the John Rylands Research Institute at the University of Manchester. She is the author of The English Boccaccio: A History in Books (2013) and one of the co-editors of The Cambridge Companion to Boccaccio (2015). Rhiannon Daniels is Associate Professor of Italian and founder of Bristol Common Press at the University of Bristol. She is author of Boccaccio and the Book: Production and Reading in Italy 1340-1520 (2009) and one of the co-editors of The Cambridge Companion to Boccaccio (2015). Catherine Keen is Professor of Dante Studies at University College London. She is the author of Dante and the City (2003) and co-editor of Ethics, Politics, and Law in Dante (2019).

'The book demands to be read by anyone, no matter what level of familiarity they already possess, with an interest in one of the world's most significant vernacular cultures. Such is the brilliance and newness of this volume, the effect is like reading Italian poetry for the very first time, and learning about how early literature was conceived, produced and consumed. A veritable gem.' Daragh O'Connell, Senior Lecturer in Italian, Director of Centre for Dante Studies in Ireland, University College Cork, Ireland

• 1. Positioning poetry Guyda Armstrong, Rhiannon Daniels and Catherine Keen; Part I. 1200–1450: 2. The sonnet and the sonnet sequence Manuele Gragnolati; 3. Gender and the voicing of sexuality Cary Howie; 4. Versified hagiography and praise of women Helena Phillips-Robins and Heather Webb; 5. Adventures in narrative Catherine Keen; 6. Boccaccio's experiments in form Guyda Armstrong; 7. Commentary and canonisation Simon Gilson; 8. Editing and visualising poetry from the 1300s to the present H. Wayne Storey; Part II. 1450–1600: 9. Performing, writing and printing poetry from 1450 to 1600 Brian Richardson; 10. Classical legacies in neo-Latin poetry Maude Vanhaelen; 11. Vernacular comedy and satire Federica Signoriello; 12. Fantasy and chivalry in high and low culture Luca Degl'Innocenti; 13. Anthologies in the age of print Federica Pich; 14. Artists writing in verse Ita Mac Carthy; 15. Performance in music and on stage Lisa Sampson; 16. Building a library with poetry Rhiannon Daniels.